Hon Chair, hon Minister, hon MEC, hon members in the House, my work has been made easy, because I come from KwaZulu-Natal and my leader has spoken already, so I have a free role to play.
I need to make one or two things clear to hon Watson. Hon Watson, firstly, on affirmative action, over 50% of the citizens of South Africa believe in affirmative action, because they stand no chance in a new democracy for any opportunity. It is a fallacy of the DA to believe that equal opportunities can just fall like manna from heaven. It cannot happen. Transformation is required for this purpose. There would be no change for people with disabilities, for young people, for black people, and for women in this country if there were no affirmative action. Therefore I think the debate must no longer be about whether affirmative action works or doesn't work. One of the principles is the values contained in the objectives of affirmative action.
Secondly, I think we need to move from arguing about the collapse of ANC municipalities or this and that, and get to the crux of the issue. The crux of the issue is that we have a new system that is even younger than these 15 years that we are talking about, because local government is younger than national and provincial government. And whatever we are talking about - whether it is about corruption, as Mr Gunda has done - we can't do it by crying and lamenting about what is criminal. What is criminal is criminal; it is incumbent upon every one of us to deal with what is criminal as criminal, so that nobody gets blamed for things that are criminal.
As the ANC government our objectives are to enhance, to strengthen, and to create institutions that will help us in providing for the resources and taking forward the programmes that would assist in dealing with the issues of our people. The objectives that we espoused in this new term of Parliament, contained in the manifesto, outline the pillars upon which we anchor all our engagements. We are pleased to hear today about the new vigour, the energy, and the plans and policies that are before us. That is the reason why we stand up to support the budget. We need to support the budget because it is sufficient. We are supporting this budget because it is now giving us a clear direction as to what capacity we need, what resources we need, and what kind of people we need to take these matters forward.
My emphasis here is to make a plea to you and the departmental officials with regard to our vulnerable groups. I am glad that the vulnerable groups are now part of the planning and the priorities of this new budget of the new department, as reconfigured. I hope that we will now have our indigent policies standardised to be able to deal with the needs of the poor who are often part of these vulnerable groups. Furthermore I hope that the structures and institutions that are created will be caring, taking cognisance of the needs and the issues of the people who are affected to the core by service delivery objectives. Now, as we are nearing the maturity date of the Millennium Development Goals of 2014, we are indeed poised to take forward and to make sure that we are able and better equipped to eradicate poverty, and to ensure that there is action with regard to education. We also need to ensure that we would no longer have to argue the issue of gender, because we would have attained full empowerment of women, as reflected in the Millennium Development Goals to which we are a signatory.
Before my time expires, let me say that I was hoping Mr Visser would raise certain things. I want to raise them, because I am focusing on the area of vulnerable groups. It is a sad thing for the DA that Mr Watson has come here to lecture us about how affirmative action for any group is wrong. You have fired a disabled head of department in the Western Cape because she is an ANC supporter. She was the HOD for local government elections. [Interjections.] I respect that woman, because of her skill and merits; her qualifications in my view cannot be surpassed. Whatever we are talking about here, Mr Visser, you were just posing exactly what that manager has been implementing in this province. For the first time you are officially, on paper, in black and white, acknowledging the ANC in the Western Cape in respect of local government, because all the things you have been talking about you couldn't have done in the four weeks since you have been in power. So your whole speech really is singing our praises. I think you have now really listened to what our President has been saying, that is for us to work together and help each other.
Going forward, we are saying to the DA, and we will say it again and again: Where are the women? We are asking: Where are your young people? We are asking: Where are the disabled people? [Interjections.] You cannot shelve them. Therefore, whatever issue you would like to raise, it would be hypocritical to blame the ANC for anything to do with affirmative action, including cadre deployment. You cannot fire people for the sake of firing them because you think they are ANC supporters.
Going forward, together we can do more. If you believe in the debate about merit and skill, you should stop justifying your evictions and firing people because they support the ANC. You should stop firing people because they were working with the previous ANC government, if you are serious about what you are talking about.
Going forward, we support this budget, because, as indicated, the budget gives us a better framework, and we understand that there is now a strong focus on monitoring and evaluation within the budget. We are supporting this budget because we now understand the concerns and the problems that we are faced with, and, going forward, our role as the NCOP will be to make sure that we do not become ... We will go to the North West, we will go anywhere in the country, including the Western Cape ... Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]